Field of the Invention and Related Art Statement
The present invention generally relates to a technique for processing and analyzing an electrophoretic image.
Proteins contained in a serum sample have been analyzed by electrophoresis owing to the reason that electrophoresis can provide a lot of useful data for diagnosing various kinds of diseases. Therefore, nowadays electrophoresis for the serum sample has been widely effected as an item of the primary screening. The electrophoresis for a serum sample has been automated and has become a major test of analyzing various kinds of proteins contained in the serum sample. In an automatic electrophoretic apparatus, serum samples are applied on a substrate such as a cellulose acetate film by means of an applicator and are subjected to the electrophoretic process in an electrophoretic vessel for a given time. Then the substrate is dyed, decolored and dried, successively. Further the substrate is introduced into a densitometer containing a decalin and electrophoretic images of serum samples are made visible. Then these electrophoretic images are photoelectrically scanned by a light beam to obtain electrophoretic image signals. Next fraction percentages of albumin (Alb), .alpha..sub.1 -globulin (.alpha..sub.1), .alpha..sub.2 -globulin (.alpha..sub.2), .beta.-globulin (.alpha.) and .gamma.-globulin (.gamma.), a ratio A/G of the fraction percentage of albumin to a total percentage of the .alpha..sub.1 -, .alpha..sub.2 -, .beta.- and .gamma.-globulins, and absolute concentration values of these proteins are calculated and are printed on a test report together with an electrophoregram, i.e. densitogram. They are also displayed on a display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT).
In the known electrophoretic apparatus, the electrophoregram is subjected to an automatic span control such that a peak of the albumin fraction which usually has the highest value assumes always a given constant level. In this case, variations in absolute values of respective substances could not be detected. Further, in the known method of analyzing and processing the electrophoretic image, it is difficult to find important data or information such as existence of monoclonal protein (M-protein), difference or variation in electrophoretic mobility and existence of specific waveforms such as .gamma.-suppression, .beta.-.gamma. bridging and leading. Therefore, in order to diagnose various kinds of diseases with the aid of the known electrophoregram, substantial skill of an expert is required. Variation in absolute values of the proteins may be detected from the electrophoregram by making an amount of a sample serum applied on the substrate always constant. However, in practice, it is very difficult to apply always the same amount of samples to the substrates, because a required amount of samples is quite small. Moreover, a length on the substrate over which the electrophoretic image is expanded varies to a large extent in dependence upon various factors of the electrophoresis.
In order to diagnose diseases from the displayed electrophoregram and values calculated from the fraction percentages, there is required substantial experience and skill which depend upon respective doctors and inspection examiners.
These days there have been proposed various attempts to diagnose diseases from analytical results obtained by the electrophoretic apparatus. FIG. 1 shows a flow chart illustrating steps of effecting a classification of diseases from the total amount of proteins and amounts of respective proteins calculated from the total amount of proteins and respective fraction percentages. In this process, specific waveforms or shapes of the electrophoregram such as M-protein, .gamma.-suppression and .beta.-.gamma. bridging have to be detected from the electrophoregram. However, in the known method since the electrophoregram is subjected to the automatic span control in such a manner that the peak point of the albumin fraction image having the highest value assumes a given constant level, it is very difficult to detect the above mentioned specific waveforms or shapes even for experienced and skilled doctors.